FLOWCHARTS
Flow-chartingisoneofthemostimportantandusefultoolsavailablewhichquicklyandeasilyallowsustovisualiseandunderstandaprocess.
Flow-chartingusesvarioussymbolstoshowthestepbystepsequenceofcompletingatask.
Flowchartscanbeusedformanufacturingandnon-manufacturingbasedprocesses,e.g.makingameal,flyinganaircraftetc.
Flow-chartingallowsustoquicklyseewhereprocessimprovementscanbemadeandwherethereiswastewithinaprocess,sousingaflowchartcanhelpstreamlineandreducecosts.
Themainadvantageofflowcharting,isthatifyoucancorrectlydocumentaprocesswithallthepossiblesteps,thenitshowsthattheprocessisfullyunderstood,andcanthereforemakeinformeddecisionsandchanges.
Sometypicalsymbolsusedare:-
ExampleofaFlowchart
FlowchartscanbeconstructedveryeasilyusingstandardpackagessuchaswordorexcelorusingmorespecialistpackagessuchasVisio.
Visioisaproprietarysoftwarepackageusedfordrawingandconstructionflowchartsandorganisationalcharts.Belowisanexamplefromvisioshowingatypicalprocessflow,notingthedetaileddescriptionsofeachstep.
Thiseasilyshowsallthesteps,andalsoidentifiesthewaste,sothatastreamlinedprocesswillresult.
Shownbelowareflowchartsshowingamotorsscrapprocedure.Theobjectiveistoremoveallthesteps,whichaddnovaluetotheprocess,anditcanbeseenthattwodecisionstagesandtwodocumentstageshavebeenremovedthereforesimplifyingtheprocess.
Itisalsoveryimportanttoinvolvepeopleworkinginthisprocessandusuallyflowchartsfollowanumberofstages:
Initialflowchart
Actualflowchart–Thiscanonlybedrawnwhenpeoplewhoworkintheprocessareinvolved
Improvedversionofflowchart–Thiscanbedrawnwhenimprovementshavebeenmade
Continuouslyimprovetheprocess–Weshouldneverconsidertheprocessasperfectandalwaysstriveforfurtherimprovement
Operation
Or
Process
Decision
Thisshowstwodocumentsteps,aretheybothneeded?
Document
Startand
Finish
So,showmeanexample
Initialprocess
Improvedprocess
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